Fighting Demons
by Charbonne
Summary: When Zaraki tries to speak with his zanpakuto, how can Yachiru really help him out? Rated T for some mild swearing.


_Disclaimer: Sorry, about the only bit of Bleach I own are the first four seasons on DVD. No rights or anything._

_**Fighting Demons**_

Zaraki Kenpachi swore as he glared at the sword in his hands. His zanpakuto. Ever since the fight with Kurosaki, the eleventh division taicho had tried again and again to speak to his zanpakuto, and again and again, he was greeted with silence. Silence that only seemed to grow the more he tried. Disgusted, he chucked his zanpakuto across the dojo.

"Ken-chan, what are you up to?" The head of the youngest fukutaicho in Seireitei, Kusajishi Yachiru, poked around the frame of the door and looked curiously at Zaraki. "Why's your sword all the way over there?"

"It's pissin' me off," stated the captain. "Can't get stronger if I can't talk ta the thing that'll help me." Zaraki made a face. "Tch, stupid Kurosaki and his sword..."

"Maybe you're going about it all wrong." Yachiru's quiet statement had Kenpachi frown over at the girl. He'd never heard her sound so serious before in her entire life, and the fact that the pink-haired demon was giving him a look that suggested she knew more than she was letting on gave him pause.

"An' why would ya know what works an' what doesn't? It's supposed to be individual, ain't it?"

"Yeah, but you're supposed to ask nicely, not yell and scream at it." Yachiru said, as though it were the most obvious thing to do.

Kenpachi blinked. Wait, how'd she know what he'd been doing? He made it a point to avoid the rest of his division when he tried. That way, at least no one would be around to be on the receiving end of his murderous rage at the end of it all. Had he been yelling the entire time, loud enough for the division to overhear?

Suddenly he felt the familiar weight of the young girl as she jumped onto his shoulder. "Nope, you haven't been yelling at all." Wait, what? "I just decided to wait until you could calm down enough to talk to. Besides, it's been kinda fun when you come out and the dojo looks like it blew up." Yachiru giggled. "Besides, Feathers and Baldy keep away from here whenever you're in there so that way you don't chop them up!"

"Wait, if I haven't been yelling, then how'd ya hear me? An' what do ya mean waiting for me ta calm down ta talk to?" Suddenly a thought occurred to the taicho, and his face fell. "Wait, don't tell me that I'm in my inner world right now..."

"Yep!"

"An' why does it look like the dojo?" Realization was slowly dawning in Kenpachi's head.

"Because you like to fight, and this is the best place to practice!" Yachiru giggled again.

"You're it, that damn zanpakuto that I've been trying to talk to forever."

"Right!"

Ken was now shaking his head, and then asked the simple question. "Why didn't you decide to talk to me before?"

The young girl put a finger to her lips, thinking for a bit. She then brightened. "We have been talking, haven't we? Besides, it got boring waiting for you to say something so I had to come out and find out what was taking so long."

"Wait, what are ya talking about?"

"I told you my name years before I came out, but you forgot me. When I finally did appear before you, you'd forgotten who I was." A smile broke out on the girl's face. "At least you remembered what my name was, even if you didn't know who it belonged to, and you called me by it!" Yachiru then punched a fist into the air. "Then we got to kick some major butt, and Ken-chan always won! That makes you the best!"

Kenpachi didn't know what was more disturbing, the fact that his zanpakuto was his lieutenant, or the fact that just like him, the little girl was bloodthirsty. He just decided to shrug noncommittally and stood to retrieve his sword. "So, now what? Does that mean that I have to yell something stupid every time we get into a fight?"

"Nope!" Yachiru chirped. "You've already got shikai, so now all you have to do is learn bankai. Besides, you've taken such good care of me that you're probably the best one that knows me. No other soul can lay such a claim with their zanpakuto. That makes you special, Ken-chan!"

Kenpachi then got an evil glint in his eye. "Ya mean all I gotta do is learn bankai, right?" Yachiru nodded. "A good fight?" Another nod. "Lemme guess, I gotta fight you, right?"

Yachiru clapped, happiness evident all over her childlike face. "Yep! Though we shouldn't do it in here..." She then jumped down off his shoulder and grabbed him by the hand. She pulled him out of the dojo and the room dissolved, revealing the real room and the pink-haired demon sitting trying to pull him to his feet. His zanpakuto was still laying across his lap, and he stood up, frowning. "Come on, Ken-chan! I know the perfect place."

***

Madarame Ikkaku and Ayasegawa Yumichika both felt the massive reiatsu of their captain while sitting down and relaxing in the garden. "Who challenged the taicho to a fight?" Yumichika asked, frowning. "That is just such an ugly thing to do."

"Dunno, but I gotta see it!" Ikkaku stated, and shunpooed off. Yumichika shrugged and stood as well, hurrying off to the site of the battle. When they got there, however, the two stopped short and stared.

Yachiru was on the ground, groaning. Numerous wounds were apparent on the girl's body, and Kenpachi wasn't much better, but he was standing and sheathing his sword. "Stupid brat," he muttered as he picked the girl off the ground. He then shunpooed away, leaving Ikkaku and Yumichika gaping at where their captain had been.

"What the hell?" Ikkaku rubbed his head in confusion. "Why would that demon challenge Zaraki-taicho? Doesn't make sense..."

"No," Yumichika agreed, "but there's only one way to find out." With that, Yumichika rushed off to the fourth division, Ikkaku close behind. However they drew up short and stared into the room.

Yachiru was up and bouncing around, looking as though she hadn't just been in a brutal fight with the man she idolized. Kenpachi was sitting in the chair next to the bed, and kept giving the fukutaicho of the fourth division dirty looks as she tried to patch him up. Isane finally gave up and tossed her hands in the air and walked out, glancing at Yumichika and Ikkaku as she passed. "You talk some sense into him." she stated.

Ikkaku tch'ed and walked in. "Oi, taicho, what the hell happened? I never thought the kid would wanna even try to kick your ass. She get amnesia or something?"

At that Yachiru grinned, and to both of the other shinigami, it seemed more frightening than anything that they had ever seen. For one, the glint in her eyes was disturbing, and another, her grin almost matched Zaraki's whenever he was in a good fighting mood. Scary.

Zaraki just hmm'ed and shrugged. "Just wanted ta fight." He himself grinned a bit. "Gave me one hell o' one, too." He looked over at the young girl fondly, and both Ikkaku and Yumichika flinched. That was definitely one thing they hated. The fact that their taicho and fukutaicho always seemed to think on the same line.

"Umm, okay." Yumichika blinked and shook his head. "Just remind me not to try and get into a fight with her."

"Aw, why not Feathers? It'd be fun, like if Ken-chan and Baldy ever fought since he has bankai." Yachiru pouted at the effeminate man.

"Wait, who told ya about my bankai?" Ikkaku practically yelled, but then stopped as the shadow of Zaraki loomed above him. "Err, wait, I never said that."

"So ya got bankai? Good, 'cause now I need a sparring partner for mine." Zaraki stated, then frowned as Ikkaku darted from the room, yelling the entire time about a damn demon-kid. "Tch, that's a waste. What about you, Ayasegawa?"

He turned around to face Yumichika, but found the other man to have disappeared. "Don't worry, Ken-chan!" Yachiru chirped as she jumped onto Kenpachi's shoulder. "Maybe Strawberry's here, and wants to play!" At that Zaraki got a gleam in his eye, and the man and his zanpakuto left the room in a rush. Soon, people could hear Kurosaki Ichigo's attempts to flee the eleventh division's taicho across the whole of Seireitei.

_Well, I figured on making a Kenpachi/Yachiru friend fic, and this is the result. I always figured that, since it seemed she really never leaves his side, it only makes sense that she could be his zanpakuto. Besides, in the Lost Zanpakuto Tales arc, you never see either of their zanpakutos materialize. I know that neither of theirs are known, but it just makes it that much more fun if that were the case, since they are both alike._

_~Charbonne_


End file.
